One Hazy Morn
by LEva114
Summary: REWRITE. Betrayal after betrayal and abuse after abuse send a lonely girl spiraling down a path she was destined to tread the moment she was born. And when she's done with the little town of Ordon, no one will ever hurt her again. An AU story inspired by King's Carrie. Rated M for a reason - contains rape, bullying, abuse, and gore, along with heavy content and twisted morals.
1. Summoning

**Hi guys - I'm finally back with this story-**

***dodges ammunition from a tomato cannon***

**Geez. Well, I'll let you guys get to it, but first, a quick warning to those people who don't know what this story is about. ****This story contains rape, abuse, bullying, and gore in spades. If any of those things really bother you or are a trigger, then this is not the story for you - if you can stomach it, then read on.**

***edit* Okay, for some reason, the first paragraph of this got cut off when I first published this. It is now fixed. Ugh.**

* * *

She probed the cut on the inside of her cheek with her tongue, wincing as new pain lanced through the wound and the taste of fresh blood broke into her mouth, dull and coppery. She cupped her hands under the faucet and drank, swishing the lukewarm water around to try and wash that awful metallic taste out of her mouth. Blood-tinted water splashed into the basin of the sink, turning parts of the white porcelain orange for a split second before evidence of what happened swirled down the drain. The faucet droned on, a comforting background murmur as she spat again.

Zelda finally turned off the faucet and looked up at herself in the mirror. Shame and horror alike bubbled sluggishly in her gut when she saw bruises blooming like lilacs on her throat and her left cheek – they were faint now, barely shadows against her skin, but she bet that later they would look far worse. She would have to cover them up somehow. Maybe some of Momma's makeup-

Her sleeve inched back as she slowly reached up touch the marks staining her neck, accidentally flashing a matching bruise circling her thin wrist to her reflection.

(calloused hands clamping over her wrists like shackles cold and hard and cruel-)

She quickly yanked her sleeves back down over her wrists, her hands curling into tight fists to keep them there. Her skin crawled under her clothes and her lips pursed as she struggled to push the memory away, but this entire school smelled just like-

(the scent of dust)

(sweat)

_(him)_

Zelda blinked away the tears that suddenly prickled at her eyes, wiping at her cheek when one traitorously trickled over her bruise. Her ribs hiccupped up and down in a soft sob before she could smother it with her hand.

"This is not the place to cry," she told herself, repeating the mantra over and over again, the lilt she gave to it making it sound like a prayer. The repetition was successful, and she calmed down within a couple minutes. Her face relaxed into a stony, careful mask. The only things betraying her were her red eyes and the dampness on her cheek.

And the bruises. Those weren't so easily covered and corrected.

She needed to leave before anyone saw her like this. Questions were the last thing she wanted - a swell of anxiety built up and burst inside her when she thought of having to actually say what had happened if someone asked. She didn't want to talk to anyone. Not the nurse, not the principal, not her classmates, no one.

But could she tell Momma?

"What would she do?" she asked her reflection in a whisper, who only stared back at her with dubious eyes and disheveled hair. Zelda honestly had no idea what Momma would say if she told her what had happened. There were too many variables – her mood, how she told her, what exactly she kept hidden from her. Did she tell her everything or-

She groaned in frustration, turning away from the mirror and leaning against the counter. Pain stabbed through her lower abdomen; she cringed, one hand quickly darting up from her side to cradle her stomach. A now familiar agony crashed through her lower body in slow, uncomfortable waves, leaving her close to screaming. Why did it hurt so much even now? Was this a punishment from the gods for her mistake? She grit her teeth as the pain ebbed away and shoved the difficult questions away. Those were for later, just like the crying – she was sure they would go hand in hand.

Gods, all she wanted was to cling to her mother and ask her to fix everything - pray for her soul, make the pain go away, take her out of school, whisk her off far away from this wretched little town. But at the same time, she might damn her,

(because it was my fault)

lock her in her bedroom, hit her and call her a slut, a whore…

(because I am I am if I hadn't-)

Or worse. Momma might get mad, and when she was mad, she got even more unpredictable than usual. Zelda had only seen the full extent of her wrath once or twice, and it was awful, even if it hadn't been directed towards her.

She chewed on her thumbnail anxiously as she thought, her eyes flicking over to the door every once in a while to make sure no one was walking in on her. If she did find out and she did get mad, at least it wouldn't be for awhile. Momma was sick right now

(if sick was the right word for it)

and she didn't care what Zelda did as long as she didn't wake her up and came when she was called. Normally, this bothered her, but now (and she felt somewhat guilty for thinking this) she was thankful that Momma was in the middle of one of her episodes and was too wrapped up in her own problems to ask Zelda how her day was. She didn't think she would be able to keep a straight face if she was met with any sort of interrogation-

Zelda jumped to attention and accidentally let out a shrill scream when the door opened, welcoming in a somewhat stocky girl in a skirt much shorter than Zelda's was allowed to be. She was twisted towards the hallway, laughing loudly at something someone standing outside had said, but Zelda would recognize that fiery red hair anywhere.

Malon turned towards the sharp noise, letting the door close behind her. Her pretty, round face quickly twisted into a smirk, her muscular legs held slightly apart and steady. Zelda stared at her with watery eyes, her lips pressing together into a thin line. Her lower body was being wracked with so much pain from her sudden, startled movement that she felt like she was going to vomit, but there was no way she would ever show Malon Filly any sort of weakness. She preyed on that.

"What is that face, LaMorte? Did you look at yourself in the mirror again?" Her face melted into an expression loaded with too much mockery to be called pity. "You think you would have stopped doing that a long time ago." She laughed, then walked across the bathroom to the stall furthest from the door.

As she passed, Zelda turned to watch her go, her face still drawn and slightly pained. Sometimes she was sorely tempted to respond in kind even if it wasn't right, but she was too shell-shocked right now to do much more than shake her head mutely. The lights flickered above them with a low, snapping buzz, but Malon didn't seem to notice as she locked herself in the khaki colored stall.

Zelda turned back to the mirror and began to fix her hair hurriedly, wanting to leave before Malon came back out of the bathroom – normally she ignored what the other girl said, but she could feel her eyes beginning to fill with tears. Today was just not one of those days where everything could just roll off her back. Anything that could have been considered hard or strong about Zelda had been momentarily peeled away,

(you like this don't you, say you like it)

(slut)

(only way anyone will ever want you)

exposing everything and leaving it raw. She sniffed as she looked at herself in the mirror, decided that she looked normal enough to go out into the hall, then turned, bent, and picked up her messenger bag with one hand. She winced as her abdomen cried out in protest, but she made it back into a standing position with some help from the counter. She heard the toilet flush, and she quickly walked over and bashed open the door with her shoulder, letting out a sigh of relief once she was out of the grey bathroom and into the sunny, window filled hallway.

Zelda turned and hadn't made it two steps before a pair of very familiar sneakers jutted into her field of vision. She froze and quickly snapped her head up, confusion and surprise quickly draining away and making a pit of terror in her stomach. Malon's boyfriend regarded her with a small smile on his face, his shoulders slouched and Malon's blue backpack hanging from one hand. A quick pang of agony shuddered up her spine, like a reminder _get away get away_-

(you're pretty when you cry)

"Are you okay? You look a bit pale," Dark said plainly, no hint of remorse or sincerity in his cool voice. Her cheeks flamed bright red, ashamed and embarrassed when she saw him clearly look her up and down, his gaze lingering on her neck and the bruises that had been left there. Zelda sucked in a deep breath and took a quick step back, horrified, then gave him a wide berth and ran past him, her bag banging against her hip and her skirt flapping and her lower body screaming in pain with every awkward, lunging step _get away get away-_

Dark watched her go, the corner of his mouth pulled up in a lopsided, unconscious smile. Malon walked out of the bathroom a couple seconds later, taking her backpack from his waiting hand with a 'thanks' and a look down the hallway to see what he was staring at. A thin giggle snuck between her teeth.

"Why the hell is she running like that?" she said, her amusement trilling its way into her words as she slipped her arms through the straps of her backpack.

Dark only shrugged in response, still smiling to himself, then took her hand as they walked outside to enjoy the lovely spring day for what remained of the lunch hour.

* * *

**So from the get-go, we have a lot of changes, some minor and some major. If you're an old reader, let me know what you think of the changes, and if you're a newbie, let me know what you think too. **

**Also, I'm currently working on a rewrite of another story called Empathy and the first chapter is up - that's on my profile if you're interested.**

**Okay, so I've got self-plugging out of the way, and the asking for reviews... Mmmm... I think that's it. I hope you'll stick with me while I try to get more chapters of this out while school and swimming is going on. **

**Much love, **

**~Eva**


	2. Recovery

Eva: Good news and bad news. Bad news first - this chapter's a little short and it was going to be a longer, but the part at the end didn't really fit, so I had to chop that shit off. But the good news is, the last part is gonna be the beginning of the next chapter, so that means it's already half done, I'm just so on it you guys-

I don't own Zelda.

* * *

After she had turned the corner and her tormentors were out of sight, Zelda stopped for a second to collect herself, wheezing and bending over with her hands planted on her knees.

She didn't want to see him so soon after. She didn't want to ever see him again. The pain she felt between her legs, rebounding around her insides like a spiked ball, was second to the pressure in her head that resulted from trying to hold back a scream of aggravation and yes, fear. If this was the way _he_ was going to act and the way she was going to react to him, then how could she even come back here? How could she ever show her face when he would always be around to shove everything back at her-

She rarely felt like she belonged at school – like this was a safe place – but this was a whole new low.

Zelda was snapped out of her thoughts when she felt something warm trickling slowly down the inside of her thigh. She looked at her skirt in surprise, unable to see with the ugly curtain of plaid in the way. A dark thought nagged at back of her mind – that if she hiked up her skirt, the inside of her legs would probably be smeared with red.

(among other things)

Zelda stood up straight and smoothed her skirt down. Checking was for later, when she was at home and locked in her bathroom. If she didn't see it, it didn't exist yet.

She walked down the remainder of the hallway slowly, fixing her hair and attire as she went so the nurse wouldn't notice anything. Zelda struggled to remember her name. It was Uli, right? She was pretty sure that was it… She had never really met the nurse because she had never gotten sick while she was at school. She bit her lip as she pushed open the door to the office. The secretary must have been out on lunch – she knew the blonde, pregnant woman sitting at the desk wasn't the usual batty old lady that manned the phone.

The woman looked up from her lunch when she heard the door creak open, and Zelda was hit with a shudder of recognition that stopped her in her tracks. She looked very similar to her mother, only her hair was much shorter and her face leagues softer. But for a second, it was like Momma was looking at her with questions written all over her fine features. Her heart reluctantly started up again when the woman – was this Uli? – started talking.

"Hello? Do you need something?" she asked in a voice that didn't sound like it was ever raised, gentle and soft. The tension in Zelda's shoulders eased,

(doesn't sound like momma either)

and she nodded before she spoke.

"I-I feel sick and I was wondering if I could get a pass to go home."

The woman stood up and walked over, stooping over her round belly slightly to get a better look at Zelda's face. She closed her eyes, unable to match her stare, and flinched as the woman's cool hand came to rest on her forehead. Prayers mumbled their way through her head, pleading with the goddesses that the nurse wouldn't notice the bruises beginning to darken on her face.

"I can't feel a fever…" The woman sounded doubtful, and Zelda's eyes flitted open, looking at her in surprise. She hadn't considered the fact that she might not be able to lie her way out of school, and she began to panic. What if she couldn't leave? Her last class of the day was Physics, and she sat right by-

"My stomach really hurts, and I feel like I'm going to throw up," she said, the beginnings of a moan distorting her voice. The woman's hand fell back to her side, and her blue scrubs rustled as her arms crossed, then uncrossed restlessly.

"Well then, we'll call your mom and ask her to come in and sign you out."

Relief swelled inside her, then quickly burst and sank in despair. "My mom can't pick up the phone right now." The nurse had waddled back to the desk to pick up the phone, and she turned to Zelda again, the confusion on her face prompting a further explanation. Zelda fumbled for a reason.

"She's been sick too, and I don't want to wake her up if she's sleeping," she blurted out after a beat, watching the nurse's face fearfully to see if she bought it. The only change she saw in her expression was the slight rise of an eyebrow. Zelda could be an adequate liar, even if she didn't like doing it, but she felt like this wasn't working, it just wasn't working, she'd have to stay here in this awful place and go to class and see-

Her stomach clenched, and she felt her face go pale. She doubled over and vomited right in the middle of the office, finishing with a retch as she clutched at her stomach. There was a thud as her bag fell off her shoulder and hit the floor, and then the small sounds of the nurse rustling around the desk after a faint gasp of surprise. Zelda turned away from her, a curtain of hair shielding her reddened face; she sputtered out apologies as the smell of throw up crept into her nostrils and almost made her sick again.

She straightened and a groan slipped out her mouth, the room tilting and her vision spinning. The nurse's arm came to rest across her shoulders, steadying her before ushering her to a small bathroom off to the side of the main room. Zelda hunched over imperceptibly in an effort to make herself smaller – she did not like being touched and steered around like this, even if this lady had good intentions. However, her ears perked up when she heard the nurse say something about excusing her from class-

"-and you can just rest on the second cot in my office. I'll get that set up for you and let the other girl in there know that you're going to be joining her while you clean yourself up. The lost and found clothes are kept in the cabinets in the bathroom, so if you need an extra shirt or skirt, that's okay if you take it from there." A small, hard stone of apprehension dropped into her stomach and pulled it down when she heard that another student was in the nurse's office. She was about to ask who it was, but the nurse swept out of the small bathroom before Zelda could, muttering about finding a janitor to clean up the mess.

She swallowed, remembering the female pronoun the nurse had attached to the unknown face. What if it was Ruto or Veran? That would be another piece of bad luck that would fit well with everything else that had happened today. Seeing another one of her normal tormentors would have proven that the gods were feeling particularly vindictive today. She would almost rather brave Physics and-

No. Anything was better than seeing him. And there were hundreds of girls at her school; the odds were in her favor that it was just a freshman who barely knew who she was. She let out a shuddery sigh, then went to the sink to wash out her mouth. The sour taste quickly gone after a few swishes of warm water, she looked at her clothes in the mirror to see if they had been dirtied. She saw streaks of bile dripping towards the hem of her skirt, and her nose wrinkled in revulsion. Zelda walked towards the cabinet in the corner of the room, and as the nurse had promised, when she opened it there was a small stack of used school clothes and gym uniforms at about knee level.

She knelt down to retrieve a clean skirt, then froze when she felt that same sensation of something warm and sticky rolling down the inside of her thigh, along with the pain from before. After a quick shiver of disgust, Zelda cast a glance towards the door, making sure it was locked and no one was about to burst in on her. She turned back to the shelves and grabbed a skirt that she prayed would be long enough to satisfy Momma's rule

(good girls make sure they're modest covered decent and you're a good girl aren't you Zelda dear-)

before moving to the toilet, flipping the lid down, and quickly wriggling out of her old skirt and underwear; they pooled around her ankles without ceremony.

Alarm expanded inside her chest, left it suffocatingly tight when she saw that the seat of her underwear was soaked with blood. She swallowed back a shriek of fear, not sure if even her period had resulted in that much bleeding; a lump in her throat remained. Thin trails of dark red had escaped her underwear and freely dripped down her legs, some half dried and others fresher. The smell of blood hit her hard now, like a punch in the gut, and tears sprang to her eyes. Oh gods, was she dying please say she wasn't please please please-

She kicked her dirtied skirt away, not wanting to see it right now, and yanked a bunch of toilet paper off the roll with shaking hands. She hurriedly wiped, ignoring the pain in her hurry to clean up, and after dropping the sullied tissue to the floor without a thought, she grabbed more of the thin, cheap one-ply. Sloppily folding the loop over two or three times, Zelda pulled up her underwear and stuffed the makeshift pad into it.

Once she stood up, she could feel the paper rustling against her; she felt even more dirty and sickened than before. How long was this going to last? Was this something that happened every single time someone was intimate? From what she overheard when her classmates discussed this sort of thing, she didn't think so – maybe this was just further punishment for her mistakes.

She picked up her old skirt, turned it inside out, then tossed it away in disgust - there were splotches of dark blood on the inside. A quick look on the outside showed that the stain had begun to seep through to the other side to join the vomit, interrupting the lines and blocks of color that made up the dark plaid. Yet another reason to change.

Her hands still trembling slightly, Zelda unfolded the new skirt and sighed. Too short. Momma would be mad

(a whore's skirt for a whore)

if she saw. She pulled it on anyways, wanting to be covered more than she wanted to follow the rules, tucking in her shirt and tugging the skirt down as far as she could without it falling down. It still only hung down about two-thirds of the way to her knees.

She jumped when there was a knock on the door. The nurse's voice carried through the wood. "Zelda? Are you alright?"

"Yeah," she said in a shaking voice, picking her ruined skirt up off the floor and balling it up. She wanted to burn it when she got home, along with her underwear. She'd never be able to do it without Momma noticing, but it would feel… just so nice to watch them disappear, turn to ash and smoke instead – gone forever.

The nurse was standing outside the bathroom when Zelda finally opened the door, her head bowed slightly. She motioned for Zelda to follow her down a short hallway jutting off the main room. She trailed behind the pregnant woman, doing her best to walk normally with the toilet paper wedged between her legs. When they reached the end of the hallway, there were two rooms. The open room had a desk and swivel chair, along with a counter filled with jars of gauze and bandages. The nurse rapped on the other door with the back of her knuckles, and she waited for a quiet grunt of acknowledgment before she pushed it open.

The room was dark, the curtains on the only window drawn and the lights turned off. The room had a wall of cabinets along with two cots covered in vinyl and thin blankets. Zelda craned her head around the door frame to see the girl lying on the first bed; her face was hidden under a pillow, and she had a mass of tight, curly orange hair sprawled out on the mattress under her. Her heart jumped into her throat for a second, almost certain it was Veran because of the hair, but the nurse quickly debunked that assumption.

"Midna here has a migraine, so we have all the lights off. I know she'd appreciate it if you were quiet while you were in here. If you get sick again, there's a basin on the floor for you to use. I'll be back in here to check on you once Miss Koume is back from lunch, and after that, I'll be just across the hall." She offered Zelda a warm smile, and she returned it hesitantly and without as much conviction. "I hope you feel better, dear. Try to get some rest if you can."

She nodded, then walked into the room and sat on the cot, trying and failing to mask a wince as a sharp ache worked its way up her spine. The nurse didn't seem to notice and was already shutting the door, leaving the room in near darkness. Some light still leaked in through the curtain, and the faint sound of people talking in the outdoor courtyard filtered in through a crack that was letting in fresh air. Zelda laid down after a second of watching the other girl, wary to see if she would take the pillow away from her face and spew insults at her. Since she made no such move, Zelda's shoulders relaxed, and she collapsed onto the thin mattress, her back to the other girl and her hands between her head and the pillow.

She normally had problems sleeping anywhere except her own bed, but after a couple minutes, her breathing settled into an easy rhythm. The darkness felt warm and close, the quiet pressing in on her ears. It wasn't suffocating though; it was comforting having this perceived emptiness around her. The headache she had been nursing for the past couple of hours slowly started to slip away, and her eyes began to slide shut. Within minutes, exhaustion caught up with her, and she fell into a light sleep, the oblivion welcome.

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Thanks to kyouko, zelda3469, Hanfan26, and Anon for leaving reviews on the first chapter!

Last chapter, I forgot to thank two of my friends, zelda3469 and ForeverSomeone's, for helping me out a lot with this rewrite. Both of them listen to me babble about this story constantly, are nice enough to give me a reader's perspective while I'm writing, and the latter gave me a funny name for this story about awful things happening to my favorite characters. So at least we can take solace in that-

I hope you're continuing to enjoy One Hazy Morn: Hyper Mega Redux Rainbow Premier Edition the Remake. And if you do, you should follow, favorite, or leave a review :)

Thanks for reading - an update should be coming pretty soon.

~Eva


	3. Possession

Eva: So here's the new chapter of I Don't Quite Know Where I'm Going With This So Be Afraid BE VERY AFRAID-

I mean, One Hazy Morn.

Warning: vague scenes of non-consensual almost-sex from the victim's perspective at the beginning of this chapter. And some interspersed randomly throughout.

* * *

She wanted to just sink into the floor, she just wanted to die, oh gods, anything to make this end-

She moaned under the hand smothering her as _his_ hand crept up her shirt and began pawing at her chest and pushing up her bra, the sound tapering off into a squealing whimper. The heels of her sneakers squeaked against the linoleum as she tried to push herself out from under him, leaving tiny rubber-black arcs on the floor like tire skids after a sloppy stop but did he no no he did not, no he did not stop.

His hand pulled away from her mouth for a second; her attempt at a scream so loud her mother might have been able to hear it from six blocks over was quickly cut off when it returned with a clap of skin on skin. His fingers mashed her lips into her teeth, and she smelled blood and tasted a spoonful of pain trickling down her throat before her attention was ripped away by his face looming over hers. She wanted to scratch the smile off his face, turn the faint white of his smile bright red; her hands curled into claws, one twisted under her torso and tangled in the strap of her bag, the other pinned and wriggling under his knee.

His mouth opened and closed, the words falling from his mouth almost indecipherable through the haze panic

(and betrayal and hurt and disgust and shame shame shame I don't wanna be your little toy no more more more-)

had thrown up in her mind no no no no she shouldn't listen he was a liar and a sneak and a-

"-just stay quiet and I won't have to hurt you-"

_(LIAR)_

_(DIRTY _FILTHY _LIAR)_

{hey you alright}

_(and anyway what's the point when you already hurt me _you already hurt me _took my sense and smashed that into pieces and strung me along said I was special when all you did was make me a _liar_ made me lie to my momma and now you're going to finish making me just as _foul_ and broken as you liar liar LIAR-)_

{hey, hey, wake up}

And Zelda was crying behind his hand and shaking her head back and forth and his hands were grabbing her shoulders and shaking them too and suddenly she was choking and twitching awake with a cough. She smelled perfume and felt hands leave her shoulders a millisecond too early to be slapped away.

She uncurled quickly from the fetal position she had shrunken into and twisted around to look at the girl who woke her up. She was standing over her bed, her arms crossed and a faint frown distorting her glossy mouth. Her lips were dark against the pale of her skin, the lack of light in the room draining the color out of everything and throwing sharp shadows onto things. Zelda at least could recognize her now that her face wasn't covered by a pillow – this was that senior who had transferred in at the beginning of the year and was dating Link Tudor. At least, she thought they were together. They were always talking

(or whispering if they couldn't speak or exchanging looks if they couldn't whisper)

(and a little green spark used to light up in the pit of her gut wished she had someone to look at and whisper with and talk to)

in her History class, and she saw them all the time in the hallways.

"You alright?" the other girl asked, her voice slightly higher and hoarser than she remembered. Zelda blinked a couple times, noticed that there were tears streaming down her face, and sat up to wipe them away. Swallowing, she nodded slowly, not making eye contact with the other girl. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw her mirroring Zelda's action, nodding almost to herself. There was a quick beat, then-

"Did something happen?"

Zelda was glad part of her hair had fallen out of her braid and masked her face, because her eyes widened for a second before she could stop them – well, someone was forward. She forced herself to relax and look up at the other girl. Her frown was gone, her face now impassive. Zelda looked away again and shook her head, feeling the other's eyes burning into her scalp. A hot, itchy feeling prickled up her spine to the base of her hairline, and her lips pursed.

"You sure?" she pressed. Zelda almost shook her head without thinking, but quickly turned the movement into a nod, hoping that she wouldn't notice. She still didn't look up to see if the girl was buying it – at this point, she just wanted to be left alone.

"It was just a nightmare," Zelda said in a slightly choked voice, undoing the tie on her braid and beginning to unravel it to recapture the hair that had fallen out during the course of her fitful nap. The girl stood there for a second, then went back to her own cot, sitting down with a squeak and leaning against the far wall so she was facing her. Zelda watched her out of the corner of her eye, saw her pull the pillow on her lap and squeeze it to her chest. A beam of light shone in through the only window in the dark room and scattered on the white fabric.

"Your hair is beautiful," she said once she was situated. "Is that its natural color?"

Zelda looked at her, her fingers still combing through any knots she could find. "Uh, thanks. And yeah. My momma would never let me dye it."

"You should listen to your mom then – it suits you."

Zelda felt a smile beginning to pull at the corners of her mouth almost without warning. "Thank you." She bit her lip to stop herself from flashing a pleased grin,

(take my advice LaMorte should get those horse teeth fixed LaMorte)

then began pulling all her hair over one shoulder to weave it into a quick plait.

"I'm Midna, by the way. I don't think I've ever seen you around here before."

She nodded as her fingers worked, not bothering to correct Midna – that they were actually in a class together, and that she had seen her just this morning. "Zelda," she said shortly. There was an awkward pause where they both looked at the clock to see how much longer they had to wait – only about ten minutes left of school. Zelda felt herself relax slightly. Physics was almost done with, and soon she could go home, check on Momma, and then get clean properly and take off this skirt. She could feel a draft blowing across her the bottom of her thighs – and she didn't like it, made her feel kind of naked-

(shoved his hand up her skirt, a pool of plaid suddenly lying heavy heavier than she expected on her hips and she felt so cold and numb with his fingers tickling along her knees)

"So what classes did you get out of?" Midna asked, her voice drawn out by a faint accent that she couldn't quite place and had never noticed before now. Zelda's eyes flicked over, suspicion wrinkling her brow for a second before she smoothed it away.

_Why do you want to know?_ "I missed Geometry and Physics." She shrugged like it was no big deal, even though right now she was trying to think of ways to get the homework from the teacher without having to walk through the crowded hallways to the two classrooms. Maybe tomorrow morning?

She nodded, her curly hair – that Zelda was about ninety nine percent sure she dyed because she was almost certain no baby had ever been born with hair that shade of red – bouncing around her head in a frizzy cloud as her head moved. "I got out of a test in English. Thank Din, because I didn't study whatsoever." She grinned happily, her teeth pearl white and straight

(of course)

against her painted lips. Zelda smiled faintly back at her, then tied off her braid and flicked it back over her shoulder.

"You sure you're alright?" Midna was looking straight at her when she said this, studying her; Zelda's shoulders tensed up.

"I'm fine." Her voice was tight and cold. The air in the room seemed to drop a couple degrees, and Midna shivered, hugging the pillow closer to her body.

"Sorry. I won't ask again. Hey, do you need a ride home when Uli springs us loose? I'm sure Link wouldn't mind swinging by your house if it isn't too far and dropping you off." She sounded sincere enough – but Zelda didn't think Momma would like her taking a ride from what was basically a stranger. And there also was the fact that Link was _his_ brother. Did they share a car, she couldn't remember, didn't pay enough attention-

The door opened, breaking the silence they had fallen into while Midna waited for an answer and Zelda tried to find the words to refuse along with a plausible excuse. The nurse poked her head in, looking first at Midna, then at Zelda.

"Good, you're both awake. I'm going to let you two go a little bit early so you can beat the crowds out to the parking lot. Are you feeling any better?"

"Much – thanks for the bed." Midna wasted no time hopping to her feet and slinging her backpack onto her back. Zelda was slower going, the pain in her lower stomach returning with a vengeance now that she was moving again. Her cheeks burned red when she realized that Uli had also been talking to her and was still waiting for a response. She straightened her bag's strap over her chest and shrugged, her face blank and pointed towards the floor.

"Well, if you're still feeling ill by tomorrow morning Zelda, I'm sure your mother will keep you home," Uli said, holding open the door to the hallway where Midna was still waiting. Zelda walked out of the infirmary, her head still bowed slightly.

"I'm really sorry, but I can't get a ride home with you. I don't think my momma would like it," she said to her shoes.

"You sure? It wouldn't be any trouble."

"Sorry, but no. I don't live that far, and fresh air sounds good," she mumbled, trailing off towards the end.

"Oh. Well, nothing to be sorry about." Midna fell into step by Zelda, and they walked out to the parking lot through the empty hallways in silence. Zelda was concentrating on not wincing with every step she took, resulting in a constant, slightly pained mask made of a set jaw and steady, almost too loud breathing. Midna seemed relatively untroubled, and once stopped to make a face through the window of a classroom to someone Zelda assumed was Link.

They made it outside with no further interrogation, and Zelda started for the stairs leading to the front doors of the school. The sun was shining, there was scarcely a cloud in the sky, and the air was cool for how close to summer they were getting. She closed her eyes and inhaled as she took the steps one at a time, clearing the scent of dust and disinfectant from her nose and her mood improving slightly. Her stomach settled, and even the pain waned for a second, only flaring noticeably when she moved to a new step.

"Hope you feel better," a flat voice said behind her. Zelda turned to acknowledge her, then froze. Midna had stopped, her thumbs hooked under the straps of her backpack, and the frown returned to her face, casting an almost angry look on her pointed features. Zelda noticed that her stare was fixed squarely on her cheek. She raised a hand slowly and touched it, suddenly remembering the bruises his hands had left all over, any of which the other girl could have seen.

A breeze came by, pushing up their skirts and blowing loose strands of hair across their faces. The whistle of the wind was mirrored by the ringing of the bell that signaled the end of the day.

Snapped out of her sudden panic by the tickle of her hair, the cold on her knees, the chime that signaled the coming of a crowd, Zelda turned and started walking, ignoring the faint cry from Midna to stop. There was the sound of feet slapping against cement, and then cold, soft fingers caught her bruised wrist. Zelda snapped around to face her, eyes wide. Midna's mouth hung open slightly as she breathed, and words started to spill out in a low, breathless rush.

"Look, I don't know what happened, but I can help, I promise-"

"Let go of me please-" Zelda's voice came out in a hiss as she leaned around Midna to look at the other students coming out of the front door. She tugged her arm sharply upwards and back, trying to break the other girl's grip, but Midna's hand only tightened.

"Please, let me help-"

Zelda's terror bubbled up to dangerous levels, and she shook her head. "I don't want your help!" she spat, her other shoulder jerking towards the other girl as she tried to break free; her knuckles barely brushed against the front of Midna's uniform in the process. Her vision flashed white for a second, and suddenly, though she was barely touching her, she could feel the fabric of the other girl's coat, the softer cloth of her shirt - and it wasn't like she was simply touching it with her fingers. It felt like she was wrapped in sheets of the stuff almost.

And then she fell deeper than that, and she could hear and feel the whoosh of her lungs inflating, the slosh of her stomach, the steady, slightly faster than normal beating of her heart. All this information flooded into her mind, bringing a hot, almost liquid feeling with it that coiled in her stomach. Besides that central point that tethered her to herself, to Zelda, she could barely sense her own body. She was numb to everything except the clamoring, organic orchestra that was the other girl's inner workings.

Midna didn't seem to notice exactly what was happening, but her mouth had snapped shut as soon as Zelda objected. The world slowed for a second, and she couldn't even feel her lips moving,

(now let GO)

couldn't have recalled her thoughts at that moment even if the Goddesses themselves had ordered her to. Her voice sounded miles away, but she knew she spoke and as she spoke, something in her _shifted_ and traveled down her fingers to the other whose life had taken over her own for the moment. Zelda felt the hardness of bone, and as soon as it was there it was traveling away from her. Midna's heart twitched as it skipped a beat, and her lungs caught for a second, hitching. The warm feeling and the body occupying Zelda's mind drained away instantly, leaving an awful, freezing cold emptiness inside her before where she was and _who_ she was crashed back into the empty spaces. The world returned to normal speed.

Midna stumbled backwards with a short cry and a cough, losing her footing and crashing to the ground on her rear. Her backpack stopped her before she could fall all the way back, so she ended up in an awkward reclining position, face pointed at the sky. A bright red curl bounced around and fell in front of her surprised face – no terror, like she had known Zelda had possibly been rummaging around in her insides. Just slight shock.

Zelda staggered a couple steps away from the girl, already aware of the people beginning to point and look their way. She avoided looking at her hands, didn't offer Midna one to help her up - she was too terrified that it would happen again.

"I don't need your help," she said thickly, one last time, then turned and started for home and Momma.

* * *

So this was the first month that I attempted to meet a quota of at least two updates/posts, and I made it with a day to spare xD Yaaaaay me.

And so the plot thickens. You should totally let me know what you thought of Midna in a review, because hey guess what, she's actually going to play a bigger role in this than last time I tried to write this story yay. Think of her kind of like this story's Sue – kind of a bitch at times, but she has largely good intentions. Or at least, that's what I intended. Dunno if I actually succeeded, because this chapter was a struggle to write until I reached the end. But hey, you know what that's what reviews are forrrrr…

(also I didn't get any reviews on the last chapter and that makes Eva sad because she doesn't have anyone to thank here)

Much thanks to zelda3469 and ForeverSomeone's for once again helping me with this dumb story. Until next time-

~Eva


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